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University Of Oregon

Report peers into darker corners of UO Greek life

University of Oregon fraternity and sorority members earn social status by drinking themselves into a stupor, according to a report commissioned by the university.

The archaic practice of hazing continues underground in university frat houses or off campus, the report said.

Sexual assault is roundly acknowledged to exist in UO fraternities and sororities, but rapes are hushed up to protect the groups’ reputations, the report found.

These are the deep and dangerous problems that require resolution for the 4,000 UO students who live in 20 fraternities and 12 sororities, said Robin Holmes, UO vice president for student life.

“I have kids of that age,” Holmes said. “It really scares you because you know that it can lead to death. It’s very, very serious.”

In March, the university took the unusual step of cutting its association with the local chapter of Beta Theta Pi. The UO made the decision in consultation with the national Beta Theta Pi organization.

That means the 96 members of Beta Theta Pi who live in a three-story, white-columned brick building are suddenly out of the so-called “Greek life.”

The university acted because of “long-standing and repeated hazing violations, alcohol violations — things that were really too high risk,” Holmes said.

A request for comment from the house where former fraternity members live yielded no reply.

Drinking, hazing and rape

The UO commissioned an external review by Mark Koepsell, consultant and former college administrator, and Jeremiah Schinn, interim associate vice president for student affairs at Boise State University.

The pair interviewed more than 100 faculty, staff, students, alumni, advisers and law enforcement. The consultants assembled a report of common and consistent findings, which included these:

On drinking: “There is a notable ‘blackout’ culture that is referenced often. Such a culture views drinking and alcohol to the point of blackout as being normal. Such behavior is often rewarded with increased social status, but rarely results in consequences or decreased social status.”

On hazing: “There is acknowledgement of underground and off-campus, live-out member houses being a hub of hazing activity. Those facilities allow ‘everything to be pushed underground and held behind closed doors.’ ”

On rape: “Sexual violence is roundly acknowledged as a problem in the UO (fraternity and sorority) community.... There is an identified acknowledgement of peer pressure within sororities to not report sexual violence because of the negative impact on the social capital of the individual sororities within the fraternity environment.”

Beta Theta Pi was troubled, but not necessarily worse than other fraternities, Holmes said.

“This is not the first fraternity this year that we have suspended in some form or fashion. There are ones we’re continuing to work very closely with that we have some level of concern about.”

Pressure not to report rape

Based on the enforcement records, drinking remains common in fraternities, even though they pledged to go dry 13 years ago.

“On average, people in (fraternities and sororities) drink more heavily than members of the UO student body at large,” said Andrew Lubash, a member of Delta Tau Delta who graduated last spring.

“However, there are just as many house parties that happen with people who are not in Greek life. It’s like a universitywide thing. It’s like a students-in-college thing,” he said.

Sorority alcohol violations are rare, but that’s because fraternities traditionally have parties where sorority sisters go to drink.

The external review’s findings on the prevalence of rape weren’t a surprise to university officials either. A survey published in October 2014 found that UO sorority women faced triple the odds of being raped or nearly raped than their counterparts in the general UO population. The disturbing addition was information about the general reluctance to report.

“There are definitely internal pressures not to report,” Lubash said.

“Let’s say there was a rape or something in my fraternity. Even if our fraternity does everything right, it still looks bad that a member of our fraternity raped someone,” he said.

“Changing the culture”

Holmes and the reviewers she hired said the university has a difficult job ahead to remake Greek culture. In some areas, the university is pushing against the societal stream, such as drinking on game day.

“Most stakeholders agreed that expectations related to high-risk behavior are more flexible on football Saturdays. The perception exists that the same behavior would be addressed differently if it occurred in the Autzen Stadium parking lot as opposed to in a (fraternity or sorority) facility,” according to the reviewers.

The university plans to add staff by fall to train and support leaders in the Greek organizations, Holmes said. “It’s hard to do when you have two staff and almost 4,000 students in an activity,” she said.

Holmes plans to hire a new associate dean, an assistant director and a couple of other employees for fraternity and sorority life.

Members will pay for the new staff with a $100 fee, which the university will begin collecting from participating students in the fall.

A newly appointed advisory board and committees will address chapter size, social policies, risk management, staffing, support, budget and governance.

The fraternities and sororities, meanwhile, are attempting to work on the issues.

Among spring activities such as a pig roast and Humvee push, they are planning programs on sexual assault.

In February, for example, the Sigma Chi fraternity joined Pi Beta Phi sorority to bring the “Vagina Monologues” to campus.

On April 19, the Delta Delta Delta sorority and other organizations are sponsoring a screening of “The Hunting Ground,” an award-winning documentary about sexual assault on campus.

Fraternity and sorority members can be powerful leaders, Holmes said.

“Look at the slate of candidates for our student body election,” she said. “Two-thirds of them are Greek, in fraternity and sorority life. They tend to be our strongest leaders. They tend to be more engaged. They tend to have a very positive impression of their institution, so they often are very strong alums and have really strong affection for the university because they are so engaged,” she said.

Fraternities and sororities are the most popular campus activity, Holmes said.

“Students want to be affiliated with fraternity and sorority life, but we really need to work on changing the culture,” she said. “You want to set yourself up for success, not ‘I want to go to the best parties.’ That’s not the culture we want to have.”

The university each year needs to tell incoming freshmen about responsible and safe behavior, the reviewers said.

“Simply because something was articulated last year,” the reviewers wrote, “does not mean it will be embedded into the (fraternity-sorority) community’s consciousness.”